Surviving - WTJWD
by themadmage
Summary: How Regulus navigated his family, death eaters, and his conscience during the First Voldemort War. A prequel in the Well That Just Won't Do universe. Contains spoilers for Book 1 chapters 5, 7, and 11, but can be read at any time.


The calm and careful Slytherin to his brother's bold and brash Gryffindor; the obedient child to his brother's rebel. His conscience didn't align with his family's any more than Sirius' did, but he followed in Cousin Andromeda's model. Keep your head down and survive, and make a plan to escape at seventeen.

Regulus was fourteen and Sirius was sixteen when his brother ran away from home. Regulus didn't know what had caused the explosion. He'd been about to walk into the room when he heard his mother shriek the cruciatus curse, and had frozen in terror. His loyalty to his brother and his self-preservation had warred, and before he had time to come to any sort of decision his parents were walking past him as if nothing had happened. Regulus entered the room just in time to see the green light of floo travel fade. Back at school, Regulus tried to talk to Sirius, but their interactions were strained at best and eventually fell by the wayside.

Three more years.

Two more years.

One more year.

Regulus was sixteen when his parents told him on Christmas Eve he was to take the Dark Mark that summer. His blood ran cold, but his mask was as perfect as ever and his silence was taken for agreement. Regulus had always escaped the worst of the abuse in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black by doing what Sirius never could. Keep your head down and survive, and make a plan to escape at seventeen. Except now, he was sixteen, and his parents were ready to enslave him to a madman. The fact that Bella loved her service as a Death Eater only cemented it in Regulus' mind that he could not do this. Bella was insane.

His Marking was set for a week after the school term ended. The day after he arrived in London, Regulus made his excuses to his mother and took the Knight Bus to the Ministry. His family name and wealth got him an audience with Head Auror Jacobsen almost immediately. As unusual as it was for a Black to visit the DMLE, the family had connections and what a Black wanted a Black got.

The sudden silence when the office door closed suggested a silencing ward was in place, and Regulus relaxed minutely. He didn't know how this conversation would go, but it was his only hope and keeping it private was for the best. He respectfully waited for Head Auror Jacobsen to sit before taking a chair in front of the desk, and began without preamble.

"My parents are not Death Eaters, but they sympathize with their cause. I expect this is not news to you. They have informed me that I am to be Marked next week. I do not want this. However, I have nowhere to go if I tried to leave my parents' home that would be safe, and I fear for my life if I refuse to take the mark."

To his credit, the Head Auror masked his surprise relatively well. Only years living among Purebloods and Slytherins with perfect masks allowed Regulus to notice it. "What can the DMLE do for you, then, Mr. Black?"

"I don't know how you can help me, but I have nowhere else to turn. Any solution you can provide that doesn't lead to my death or imprisonment I will accept."

Jacobsen sat for a moment, and thought. "Your family is under the impression that you are content, if not pleased, to do what they expect?"

"Yes, sir. I have always outwardly done what they expected of me in the past, and I've kept quiet where my views differ from theirs."

"So you'd say you're pretty good at blending in, then?"

Regulus allowed a bare amount of confusion to show on his face at this line of questioning. "Yes, sir."

Jacobsen nodded. "I don't expect there's any way we can move directly against Lord Black and prevent you being marked. It's not an ideal situation, but the Ministry could use a spy in You-Know-Who's ranks. Do you think you could handle doing the bare minimum for them while reporting any information you have to us without being caught? You would, of course, be pardoned for any crimes you are forced to commit and released immediately if you are ever arrested so long as you keep to the deal."

Regulus breathed out slowly as he considered Jacobsen's words. He would have preferred to avoid the mess altogether, but the Head Auror was right that there was no way they could move against the sheer political power of the House of Black. Any attempt to remove him from his family or punish his parents would go nowhere, and would lead to more pain for Regulus. Spying, he could manage. He'd essentially trained all his life for the intrigue that a double life would entail, and providing information to the DMLE would serve as a balm for his conscience as well as keep him out of Azkaban. Solemnly, he nodded his agreement.

Before he left the DMLE that day, Regulus signed a magically binding contract stating his duties and immunities as a ministry spy. Two methods of secure communication were established; one for longer reports and one to alert the DMLE of last-minute raids. Regulus was given an emergency portkey to the Head Auror's office to use as a last resort if he were discovered. Head Auror Jacobsen informed Minister Minchum of the contract, and Regulus flooed home to Grimmauld Place.

The Marking Ceremony was terrible. Bella came to pick Regulus up after dinner on the day, and gave him the robes to change into. Once he was dressed, she side-along apparated him to an unplottable manor he didn't recognize. Death Eaters were waiting in a semi-circle with the Dark Lord on a throne at the front. Bella brought Regulus in front of him and he dropped to his knees, head bowed and eyes down.

"Look at me," said the monster in front of him and Regulus had to repress a shudder. He silently thanked the Black ancestors who had insisted that all Black family children should be trained in occlumency from childhood when he felt a probe in his mind. His true thoughts carefully concealed behind ten years of mental walls, he showed the Dark Lord memories of himself as the favored child of Orion and Walburga, of himself fitting seamlessly into Slytherin house, and of his rivalry with his brother. The Dark Lord seemed satisfied. Regulus' occlumency came in handy for another reason when he was forced to torture a muggle girl his own age. His face remained impassive, his mental anguish carefully sealed away, until the Dark Lord proclaimed that it was enough and one of the other Death Eaters killed her. He dropped again to his knees, and took the searing pain of the Mark without flinching. Bella handed him a white mask, and he fitted it on and joined her in the semi-circle.

The rest of the meeting was fairly uneventful. It seems Regulus had been the guest of honor tonight. Still, he carefully noted every detail he could under a guise of attentiveness. Bella praised him heartily for his performance and dedication as they left, and it made him sick.

His report for Jacobsen was written in detail. A description of the unknown manor house and the protections on it that Regulus had recognized, the identities of each Death Eater that he had been able to recognize through the masks, the process of initiation and marking, and the mundane details of the other Death Eaters' reports. The report sent, several strong wards placed on his door, and he finally relaxed his occlumency barriers and allowed himself to feel the panic and despair that had threatened for hours.

Regulus was not sent on any raids that summer, which he and Jacobsen had expected since he was underage and the Trace was still on his wand. Every couple of weeks he attended a meeting, with Bella side-along apparating him there. After each meeting, he sent a detailed report to Jacobsen. None were as traumatic as his Marking Ceremony, and he escaped the Dark Lord's cruciatus by virtue of having no jobs to fail at. The Minister and Head Auror were careful not to act on the information he provided them too quickly in order to prevent him coming under suspicion before he could gain the trust of the rest of the Death Eaters.

When Regulus went back to school, Regulus' job was to recruit. With guidance from the Ministry he focused on students who were already highly likely to join the Death Eaters and students who never would, carefully avoiding students who were neutral or undecided. He spent time with students in his year who sympathized with the Dark Lord, and fought with his brother more than ever. Regulus ached to tell Sirius what he was doing, but according to the terms of his contract he could tell no one until the war was over. Over Christmas break, having only "recruited" one student to Voldemort's side, Regulus was placed under the cruciatus curse for the first time.

Regulus went on his first raid the day after his seventeenth birthday. He apparated when he felt the Mark burn and ended up at the same manor house the full meetings were held at, but this time it was only him and four other Death Eaters. Bella was there as a representative of the inner circle, tasked with overseeing the mission. Regulus activated his alert to the DMLE so that they could assemble a team of aurors to respond. Regulus and the Death Eaters apparated to the home they were set to attack; the residence of someone who had refused to join. While the Death Eaters were still dissembling the house's wards a team of aurors arrived, having followed the tracking charm from Regulus' alert. Bella ordered the Death Eaters to open fire on the aurors. Regulus walked the line between spells vicious enough for his assumed role but soft enough that anyone he hit would recover from their wounds. His deadlier curses he intentionally sent wide. Bellatrix killed one of the aurors, but soon the battle tipped in their favor and she ordered them to apparate away. Each of the Death Eaters was tortured for their failure, and Regulus went home to write his report.

Regulus knew he would cross his brother at some point. Sirius was both an auror and a suspected Order member. As much as Regulus knew it would happen, however, he wasn't prepared when it did. It was Regulus' fourth raid, just before he was due to return to Hogwarts for his seventh year. This time, the Death Eaters were torturing a muggle family when aurors arrived. Quickly, spells were flying. Regulus threw a spell wide, and in its light he saw his brother's face. He froze, barely managing to keep hold on his wand. While he hesitated, a stunner hit him from the side and the world went black.

In a Ministry holding cell, an auror hit him with a _rennervate_. Regulus' eyes flew open, his brother's name on his lips. The auror only looked at him in disgust and walked away, leaving him bound and unmasked on the floor. Within an hour, he was released and standing in Head Auror Jacobsen's office. "Is Sirius okay?"

"He took a hex that left him burned, but it was relatively minor. He'll be out of Mungo's tomorrow."

Regulus nodded and swallowed his pain, gave a verbal report, and then left the ministry.

School was never more of a blessing than after that summer. For months, Regulus didn't have to worry about raids or being tortured and could go back to pretending to recruit younger students. He wished he could stay at school for the holidays, but it wasn't meant to be. Somehow, with all the chaos in his life Regulus still managed to get six Outstanding NEWTS. Not that he could use them for much while he was constantly waiting for a call from the Dark Lord, but Regulus was proud of himself all the same.

Regulus graduated Hogwarts in 1979, and life afterwards was a blur. Meetings, raids, reports. Torture, arrests. Regulus ended up in a holding cell every time he saw his brother. Sirius was never near the cells when he woke up. Regulus wasn't sure if it was because Sirius couldn't stand to be near him or because the DMLE was worried about leaving the brothers alone. Sirius would be more likely to kick him than free him, but they couldn't be caught mistreating high-profile prisoners. His father died that year, and after what he had been put through living up to his legacy Regulus couldn't bring himself to mourn.

The House of Black fell into a sort of limbo after that. The family charter had no provision that would allow Walburga to disown Sirius for his political views or his escape from the house, so he officially became Lord Black following Orion's death. The seat wasn't taken up, however, and it quickly became clear that Sirius either didn't know or didn't care that he was the family Head. With her husband dead, her older son estranged, and her younger son quietly resentful, his mother's descent into madness was rapid. Regulus was left isolated from everyone but the Death Eaters that he quietly despised and his house elf.

When the Dark Lord requested Regulus' house elf for a job, he sent Kreacher. When Kreacher returned clearly damaged and in pain, Regulus was furious. He nursed his elf back to health before ordering him to give a detailed report of what the Dark Lord had asked of him, which Regulus passed on to the Ministry. The elf was able to provide the location of the cave and details on the protections surrounding whatever important Dark artifact was so important. The Ministry sent a team of Curse Breakers armed with the information to retrieve it. What happened to it afterwards, or even what it was, Regulus didn't know.

In 1980, the Dark Lord heard part of a prophecy and ordered the Death Eaters to research and track any children that it could reference. Regulus felt sick like he hadn't since his Marking, and occluded very carefully. After he made his report that night, he was quietly summoned to the DMLE to verify it. Jacobsen didn't want to believe that someone could hunt babies, but it seemed that Voldemort's cruelty knew no bounds. Security at St. Mungo's was increased, and two men had sleepless nights.

Regulus was at the meeting in mid-October of 1981 when Pettigrew told the Dark Lord that he had been made the Potters' Secret Keeper. His stomach dropped when the rat was held afterwards to plan the attack privately. Writing a report felt useless that night. "Potential prophecy child found; location and attack plans known only to Pettigrew and V." He desperately wished he could warn his brother, but they hadn't spoken or seen each other off the battlefield in years.

"After that meeting, Regulus wasn't called again. On Halloween 1981, he was sitting in one of the parlors at Grimmauld Place, listening to his mother ranting at her reflection and watching the rain when the attack on the Potters happened. At the moment of the Dark Lord's death, his Mark burned ten times stronger than it had for any summoning. Regulus rolled up his sleeve, and saw that the skin of his forearm was inflamed and the Mark was oddly discolored. Unsure of what else to do, Regulus made a report.

Regulus was called into the Head Auror's office almost immediately after making that report. Jacobsen told him of Lily Potter's defeat of the Dark Lord and Regulus realized he was finally free. Three years late, but he felt like dancing. Instead, he sat in the office and made lists. For hours, Regulus wrote down names. One list of positively identified Death Eaters, one list for the Inner Circle, another list for unmarked supporters he had seen at Death Eater meetings, and a final list for suspected Death Eaters or supporters. Jacobsen cross-checked Regulus' lists against the file of reports he had made over the previous four years and sent auror teams out to arrest as many of the Death Eaters as possible. Regulus left with a trial date scheduled for November 7th and an auror guard.

The next week was complete chaos. Celebrations of the end of the war were intermixed with disorganized attacks perpetrated by loyal Death Eaters. The Longbottoms were tortured into insanity by dear Bella and the Lestrange brothers. Sirius was arrested for the murder of Pettigrew. (Good riddance, thought Regulus.) Regulus' auror guards regarded him with intense disgust. Teams of aurors worked around the clock arresting Death Eaters and supporters, making their way through Regulus' list.

Regulus was the first to stand before the Wizengamot following the war. The trial started with the reveal of Regulus' DMLE contract, and a show of the volume of reports he had made. This was followed by a lengthy debate on whether Regulus had done enough for the Ministry, and whether his crimes had truly been the minimum necessary. Eventually, he was declared innocent, the vote decided by a hair's breadth.

For months, Regulus spent almost every weekday in the courtroom, testifying to the crimes or lack thereof of each accused Death Eater. Even with his testimony, some who were guilty were acquitted on a combination of power, money, and the imperius defense. Lord Nott or Lord Malfoy being under the imperius curse was almost laughable to Regulus, but once his testimony was given it was out of his hands. Karkaroff tried to cut a deal in his trial; names in exchange for his freedom. With Regulus' lists, however, those names were useless and he was sentenced to life in Azkaban with the other convicted Death Eaters.

Severus Snape's trial was a surprise to Regulus. He had never suspected that there was a second spy in the Dark Lord's ranks, especially within the Inner Circle. Dumbledore had to fight hard to get Severus acquitted following Regulus' testimony, but he was able. The two double agents made uncomfortable eye contact in the hallway outside the courtroom, and did not speak.

The trial Regulus most anticipated never came. His brother was proclaimed a Death Eater and mass murderer in the papers, but Regulus was never called to testify at a trial for Sirius Black. When Jacobsen told him his work was finished, he assumed he hadn't been called to testify at Sirius' trial because they were so closely related or because he had frozen every time they faced each other over the years. Regulus put in a formal request for records of his brother's trial, and received none. After two more attempts, he discovered that there were no records to speak of. Regulus fought for a trial for his brother, but with the majority of the Wizengamot still against him, the Black Lordship lying unclaimed, and his contract with the DMLE completed Regulus didn't have the influence to demand it.

Regulus saw a mind healer.

He made social connections with the few neutral and Light families that would associate with him.

He took up the Regency for his brother and did his best to use the limited power and keep the family from stagnating.

He continued to privately proclaim his brother's innocence.

He buried his mother alone, and did not mourn her.

Mid-September of 1991, on a Thursday morning like any other, Regulus woke up and went to the kitchen. His morning coffee was waiting on the table with the newspaper beside it, and Regulus settled in to read it as was his routine. When he saw the headline, Regulus nearly dropped his mug. _**Sirius Black, Accused of Mass Murder, To Stand Trial** by Rita Skeeter_.

And so a decade after the war's end, Regulus sat next to Remus Lupin in the courtroom and was finally able to testify at what he considered the single most important Death Eater trial.


End file.
